News Alert: Now Available! Starlux Airlines launches SFO to TPE Flights for December 2023
Introduction
A few week ago, I posted about the upcoming flights coming from Starlux Airlines. It would now seem that the tickets are officially on sale right now for those interested in flying the newest Taiwanese premium airline back to Taiwan.
Starlux Airlines will look to fly between Taipei (TPE) and San Francisco (SFO) starting in December 2023. It would seem that the flights will operate 3 times a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) and then operate on a daily basis come March 31, 2024.
The flight will operate with the following schedule:
JX12 Taipei to San Francisco (11:30pm departure, 6:15pm arrival)
10 hrs and 45 minutes
JX11 San Francisco to Taipei (11:40pm departure, 5;30am arrival, +2 days)
13 hrs and 50 minutes
Tickets | Availability
Starlux Airlines has finally placed their tickets on sale for the SFO to TPE route, so you can book directly through Starlux Airlines or through your preferred airline partner. Most of us are here for award redemptions, so let’s take a look at Alaska Airlines, given that Starlux Airlines and Alaska Airlines have a partnership and even offers reciprocal mileage redemption opportunities.
A few months ago, there was amazing award pricing (60,000 AS miles) for business class one-way. Unfortunately, the demand for it was so high that the pricing simply vanished, and for a long time, it resorted to a staggering 165,000 miles one way, which is simply not worth it.
At the time of writing, it seems that pricing remains the same. I saw on One Mile At a Time’s latest post about having 75,000 AS miles on Starlux Airlines, but I believe those were immediately snatched up quickly. There is premium economy for 50,000 AS miles, but the value there is slightly break-even. The cash price for premium economy is around $1,300.00 USD, so it may not be bad redemption if you need to head back.
If you really want business class though, I would recommend checking-in once in a while for any potential openings or cancelled bookings, and use your Alaska Miles then.
AIRCRAFT CONFIGURATION
As mentioned in the last post, Starlux will use their Airbus A350-900 for all of its routes to the United States.
Given that Starlux has 18 Airbus A350-900s on order, and has already taken delivery of three of these jets, I can assume it will be the same layout as their other flights internationally:
Four first class seats
26 business class seats
36 premium economy seats
240 economy class seats
Starlux is the first airline in Taiwan to offer first class. On their aircraft, their A350s feature four first class seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration. First class suites feature 60-inch doors and privacy partitions, 32-inch 4K screens with bluetooth audio, zero-gravity seat settings, and personal wardrobes for storing luggage.
Their 26 seat business class are configured in the 1-2-1 style and feature 48-inch doors and privacy partitions, 24 inch 4K screens with bluetooth audio (Massive win here) and zero-gravity seat settings.
Their 36 seat premium economy class are configured in a 2-4-2 layout and feature extensive leg rests and footrest bars, and a 15.6K 4K screen with bluetooth audio.
Lastly, their 240 economy seats are configured in a 3-3-3 layout, and feature 13-inch 4K screen with bluetooth audio.
Conclusion
While we’re not seeing any amazing redemptions at the moment, it is still nice to have Starlux Airlines begin their SFO to TPE routes as of December 2023, which flights operating 3x weekly. Seattle is their next pipeline in 2024 and will be nice to see the growth of this amazing airline.
